Brendan McGraw Brendan McGraw was abducted and murdered by the IRA in 1978

Human remains found in County Meath at the start of last month were those of IRA murder victim Brendan Megraw, it has been confirmed.

Mr Megraw was one of the 16 murder victims who became known as the Disappeared.

His remains were found in a drainage ditch on Oristown bog, near Kells, by contractors called in to prepare the site for forensic excavations.

DNA tests have positively identified the remains as those of Mr Megraw.

The coroner for the city of Dublin has accepted this as evidence of identification and will shortly authorise the release of the remains to the family.

Mr Megraw was 23 when he was abducted from Twinbrook in Belfast in 1978, and murdered by the IRA.

He had recently been married and was awaiting the birth of his daughter.

His kidnappers had drugged his wife Marie in their home as they waited for his return, and as they took him away they warned her not to worry or contact police.

The Megraw family were only told by the IRA in 1999 that he was one of the Disappeared and his body had been dumped on the bogland near the town of Kells in County Meath.

Three previous searches for Mr Megraw, the most recent in 2010, had been unsuccessful.

The remains were discovered in a drainage ditch on Oristown bog, near Kells, County Meath

The Disappeared were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles.

Separate searches have also taken place on bogland a few miles away from where Mr Megraw was buried in County Meath for the remains of Kevin McKee and Seamus Wright, both of whom were abducted by the IRA in October 1972.

It is also suspected Joseph Lynskey, a former Cistercian monk taken from the Beechmount area of west Belfast in the summer of 1972, was also buried somewhere in the region.

"Everyone, Republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small, no one is too old or too young to do something."

~Bobby Sands 1954-1981~

'Mother Erin'

Two divine persons in one. A mother lamenting her children in bondage. A girl ravished by the Saxon, who weeps over her stringless harp. But her young champions keep watch in the mountains, awaiting the dawn of the bright sun of Freedom. They will gather around her with pikes and swords.